May 2007 3Digest

Monthly drivers report and popular 3D
accelerators comparison

Monthy 3Digest is the project of iXBT.com and Digit-Life.com dedicated to informing you about the performance of a large number of graphics cards under Windows XP in the past month.

This issue is dedicated to drivers released from the 15th of April 2007 to the 15th of May 2007. Traditionally our 3Digest informs you about the best price/performance ratios available in the market. Another very important part of any 3Digest is cards' 3D graphics quality shown on the example of a wide selection of games.

4. Summary graphics card performance charts for the latest drivers available at the moment of testing in May 2007

All willing to see the complete results in Excel 2003 format can download this RAR 3.0 or this ZIP archive.

If you are familiar with 3D graphics, you will be able to draw all the conclusions yourself after looking at the charts provided. Those interested in our judgement of test results should see reviews dedicated to specific GPUs (see our 3D graphics section). And for newbies and those who has just started choosing a graphics card we'll provide some more detailed explanations.

First of all, you should take a look at our brief references of modern graphics card series and their respective GPUs. Note clock rates, shader support and pipeline architecture.

Secondly, in our 3D graphics section all newbies can read about the basics of 3D (this knowledge will be required anyway, because you'll surely try to adjust some game settings: textures, lighting, etc.) Besides, newbies should read separate reviews dedicated to new products. There are just two GPU vendors: ATI (recently merged with AMD under its brand) and NVIDIA. Thus, all information is generally separated in two parts.

If a particular card is not in the summary, i.e. its results are either 0, or 1, it means the given benchmark hasn't work or has worked incorrectly with this card.

We must especially underline the bad quality of WinXP drivers for NVIDIA 8800 series. For example, they do not allow DVI scalability of resolution. Besides, SLI still doesn't work in Call Of Juarez. Therefore SLI configurations have performance results even lower than those of single cards in these tests.

If you imagine a line connecting ends of columns representing test results on a chart, you can judge if a game is critical to a card or a CPU. If this curve is "convex" and many cards perform similarly, it means at this resolution and under this load performance is bottlenecked by system resources, not graphics card potential. If, vice versa, the curve is "concave" and performance drops quickly as card potential reduces, it means the game puts heavy load on graphics cards and depends exclusively on their potential.

5. 3D accelerator ratings calculations for the end of the month

Calculations were based on gaming benchmark results as well as the results from 3DMark06 new tests (ATI CATALYST 7.4, NVIDIA ForceWare 160.02).

All willing to conduct their own rating calculations with own values are invited to download this Excel XP table in RAR 3.0 or ZIP format.

Only the HIGHEST resolution available in games was used to calculate prospect ratings.

The usability rating indicates performance and features of a card (numerator) related to its price (denominator).

According to your wishes, we separated ratings into two groups: the first gathers all benchmarks, and the second contains only the gaming tests without m3DMark05/06. Disbelieving the synthetic tests, many think the second group is of higher importance.

Core2 Duo X6800 based testbed:

"Usability" Rating:

GAMING ONLY usability rating

#

НАЗВАНИЕ УСКОРИТЕЛЯ

РЕЙТИНГ ПОЛЕЗ.

РЕЙТИНГ ПЕРСП.

ЦЕНА

01.

X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400

701

690

164

02.

X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450

700

825

218

03.

X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550

688

851

234

04.

8800 GTS 320MB, 512/1600

675

1043

355

05.

X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450

665

787

211

06.

X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800

632

870

260

07.

X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370

618

730

200

08.

8600 GT 256MB, 560/1560

604

588

146

09.

X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485

592

711

205

10.

X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380

581

428

83

11.

8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600

573

1089

452

12.

X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400

559

527

130

13.

8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800

557

1293

611

14.

X1300 XT 256MB 500/800

551

359

64

15.

EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB, 625/2000

548

1363

674

16.

X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540

545

549

144

17.

HD 2900 XT 512MB, 750/1660

542

1181

541

18.

8500 GT 256MB, 600/1200

537

503

115

19.

8600 GTS 256MB, 675/2000

488

700

237

20.

8600 GTS 256MB, 720/2200

462

712

260

21.

X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000

446

880

380

22.

8500 GT 256MB, 450/800

431

433

107

23.

8800 Ultra 768MB, 612/2160

413

1375

909

24.

X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800

390

299

63

25.

8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800

356

1570

1222

26.

7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400

339

398

117

27.

7600 GS 256MB, 400/800

314

326

85

28.

7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320

312

466

169

29.

7950 GT 256MB 600/1430

288

532

232

30.

X1300 256MB, 450/550

282

243

60

31.

7600 GS 512MB, 550/950

270

364

124

32.

7950 GT 512MB 550/1400

262

523

249

33.

X1300 512MB, 450/500

253

252

71

34.

BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200

170

634

519

35.

7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200

101

724

1038

GENERAL usability rating

#

НАЗВАНИЕ УСКОРИТЕЛЯ

РЕЙТИНГ ПОЛЕЗ.

РЕЙТИНГ ПЕРСП.

ЦЕНА

01.

8800 GTS 320MB, 512/1600

1697

1664

355

02.

X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400

1692

1080

164

03.

X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450

1672

1285

218

04.

X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550

1643

1325

234

05.

X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450

1591

1225

211

06.

X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800

1515

1362

260

07.

X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370

1496

1148

200

08.

8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600

1433

1742

452

09.

X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380

1432

675

83

10.

X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485

1428

1111

205

11.

8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800

1393

2061

611

12.

HD 2900 XT 512MB, 750/1660

1388

1910

541

13.

8600 GT 256MB, 560/1560

1388

900

146

14.

8500 GT 256MB, 600/1200

1376

813

115

15.

EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB, 625/2000

1372

2178

674

16.

X1300 XT 256MB 500/800

1344

563

64

17.

X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400

1339

820

130

18.

X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540

1315

860

144

19.

8600 GTS 256MB, 675/2000

1163

1090

237

20.

8500 GT 256MB, 450/800

1101

700

107

21.

8600 GTS 256MB, 720/2200

1093

1106

260

22.

X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000

1065

1370

380

23.

8800 Ultra 768MB, 612/2160

1025

2184

909

24.

X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800

944

465

63

25.

8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800

920

2543

1222

26.

7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400

751

596

117

27.

7600 GS 256MB, 400/800

694

487

85

28.

7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320

685

695

169

29.

X1300 256MB, 450/550

678

379

60

30.

7950 GT 256MB 600/1430

637

797

232

31.

X1300 512MB, 450/500

625

400

71

32.

7600 GS 512MB, 550/950

600

547

124

33.

7950 GT 512MB 550/1400

580

783

249

34.

BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200

390

966

519

35.

7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200

244

1135

1038

"Prospect" Rating:

GAMING ONLY prospect rating

#

НАЗВАНИЕ УСКОРИТЕЛЯ

РЕЙТИНГ ПОЛЕЗ.

РЕЙТИНГ ПЕРСП.

ЦЕНА

01.

8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800

356

1570

1222

02.

8800 Ultra 768MB, 612/2160

413

1375

909

03.

EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB, 625/2000

548

1363

674

04.

8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800

557

1293

611

05.

HD 2900 XT 512MB, 750/1660

542

1181

541

06.

8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600

573

1089

452

07.

8800 GTS 320MB, 512/1600

675

1043

355

08.

X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000

446

880

380

09.

X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800

632

870

260

10.

X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550

688

851

234

11.

X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450

700

825

218

12.

X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450

665

787

211

13.

X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370

618

730

200

14.

7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200

101

724

1038

15.

8600 GTS 256MB, 720/2200

462

712

260

16.

X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485

592

711

205

17.

8600 GTS 256MB, 675/2000

488

700

237

18.

X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400

701

690

164

19.

BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200

170

634

519

20.

8600 GT 256MB, 560/1560

604

588

146

21.

X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540

545

549

144

22.

7950 GT 256MB 600/1430

288

532

232

23.

X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400

559

527

130

24.

7950 GT 512MB 550/1400

262

523

249

25.

8500 GT 256MB, 600/1200

537

503

115

26.

7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320

312

466

169

27.

8500 GT 256MB, 450/800

431

433

107

28.

X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380

581

428

83

29.

7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400

339

398

117

30.

7600 GS 512MB, 550/950

270

364

124

31.

X1300 XT 256MB 500/800

551

359

64

32.

7600 GS 256MB, 400/800

314

326

85

33.

X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800

390

299

63

34.

X1300 512MB, 450/500

253

252

71

35.

X1300 256MB, 450/550

282

243

60

GENERAL prospect rating

#

НАЗВАНИЕ УСКОРИТЕЛЯ

РЕЙТИНГ ПОЛЕЗ.

РЕЙТИНГ ПЕРСП.

ЦЕНА

01.

8800 GTX SLI 2x768MB, 575/1800

920

2543

1222

02.

8800 Ultra 768MB, 612/2160

1025

2184

909

03.

EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB, 625/2000

1372

2178

674

04.

8800 GTX 768MB, 575/1800

1393

2061

611

05.

HD 2900 XT 512MB, 750/1660

1388

1910

541

06.

8800 GTS 640MB, 512/1600

1433

1742

452

07.

8800 GTS 320MB, 512/1600

1697

1664

355

08.

X1950 XTX 512MB, 650/2000

1065

1370

380

09.

X1950 XT 512MB, 625/1800

1515

1362

260

10.

X1900 XTX 512MB, 650/1550

1643

1325

234

11.

X1900 XT 512MB, 625/1450

1672

1285

218

12.

X1900 XT 256MB, 625/1450

1591

1225

211

13.

X1950 PRO 512MB, 575/1370

1496

1148

200

14.

7950GX2 SLI 2x2x512MB, 500/1200

244

1135

1038

15.

X1950 PRO 256MB, 635/1485

1428

1111

205

16.

8600 GTS 256MB, 720/2200

1093

1106

260

17.

8600 GTS 256MB, 675/2000

1163

1090

237

18.

X1950 PRO 256MB, 580/1400

1692

1080

164

19.

BFG 7950GX2 2x512MB, 500/1200

390

966

519

20.

8600 GT 256MB, 560/1560

1388

900

146

21.

X1650 XT 256MB, 625/1540

1315

860

144

22.

X1650 XT 256MB, 600/1400

1339

820

130

23.

8500 GT 256MB, 600/1200

1376

813

115

24.

7950 GT 256MB 600/1430

637

797

232

25.

7950 GT 512MB 550/1400

580

783

249

26.

8500 GT 256MB, 450/800

1101

700

107

27.

7900 GS 256MB, 450/1320

685

695

169

28.

X1650 PRO 256MB 590/1380

1432

675

83

29.

7600 GT 256MB, 560/1400

751

596

117

30.

X1300 XT 256MB 500/800

1344

563

64

31.

7600 GS 512MB, 550/950

600

547

124

32.

7600 GS 256MB, 400/800

694

487

85

33.

X1300 PRO 256MB, 600/800

944

465

63

34.

X1300 512MB, 450/500

625

400

71

35.

X1300 256MB, 450/550

678

379

60

Ingame quality

6. Games screenshot gallery

All test screenshots are compiled into a gallery where you can qualify the work of a chosen videocard. All shots were taken at the same 1024x768 resolution at the maximum quality.
Screenshot gallery